South Lake Presentation, January 21st, 2009

South Lake High School, Seattle, WA Hi All, We had a wonderful event at South Lake HS. Many of the girls who attend South Lake decided to attend the lunch Presentation event. Their comments were wonderful and please take a look at them below. We had a great exchange of ideas and sharing together. The panel was exceptional in their ability to connect with the girls and really help them understand why we come and meet with them. We answered their questions and they were inspired to continue with IGNITE and the activities we have to offer. It was a great day. Thank you to the fantastic women who attended yesterday. Thank you to Sharon Carroll, Technical Writer, Microsoft, Chenelle Bremont,Release Manager for XBox, MIcrosoft, Pam Policastri, Software Tester, Microsoft, Mo Rozenhart, Freelance and first IGNITE volunteer and co- creator of ignite! and Joni Blakeslee, Senior Management, Cisco Systems. You are all amazing and special women who are natural with relating to the girls and really engaging them about these fantastic career opportunities. You make a deep connection and help girls understand that these high wage careers are a way for women to make a living wage. Its your passion that shines through when you all talk to the girls and they can feel that and take it in. You all inspired them to get excited about their futures and what is possible. Thank you all! Thank you to the wonderful staff at South Lake who are also extremely passionate about their students and make sure they get these opportunities and understand why its important. I could not do this without all of you. A special thank you to Barbara Quintana who cares deeply and is passionate that her students learn about these careers and she speaks to all girls so that they know we are coming and know why they would want to be there for this event. Barbara is so wonderful to work with and South Lake and our district is so fortunate to have her! Thank you to Carol Johnson, School Counselor and passionate mentor to her students. She is also a dedicated ignite partner for many years now. And thank you to Love Denton, Asst. Principal for assisting us and making sure everyone does their best so that they can be aware of the opportunities being presented to them. It was wonderful to work with you yesterday. Thank you! Thank you to Principal Barbara Moore. You are a great mentor to us all. Here are the comments from the girls evaluation forms. * Hearing everybody's stories was interesting because they all had a story about how they didn't give up. I've also thought about taking on a career in web design or writing. Mo really inspired me. Pam's story about how she got her job and what she went through and the bugs in the computer and her powerpoint was awesome. I look forward to more IGNITE events. * I liked what Mo explained how she had an open mind and got to do different things. I learned that girls work on video games. I want to do job shadows and learn about scholarships. * The best about today was learning about their jobs. All of the jobs sound interesting. I learned about making video games and I like games a lot. * I really liked hearing all these ladies talking about their careers in technology. I liked learning that not too many women work in technology and that they need more. That encourages women. I really liked hearing everyone's stories. I really liked hearing everyone's career paths and how they got there. Everything was really interesting. I look forward to the Microsoft field trip and want to do a job shadow. * I liked hearing about all the different careers in technology. I learned that people in these careers fields can make le figures. * I liked how Sharon really explained what she did and how she went into the field that she is in. It was more than I expected it to be. * I like the fact that they were trying to convince more women to become more into technical fields. They want to help women get into high tech. I learned that not many women were into technical careers. That there are myths and stereotypes regarding technology careers. I learned about IGNITE that inspires girls. I think this program is perfect. * My favorite part is learning about how these women do their jobs. Also how it wasn't all easy but afterward things get better. It shows you if you work hard you can do it. * I saw that someone is trying to make more games for girls in Xbox 360 because I like to play video games but there was none really that I liked. I wish we had even more time to talk. * One of the ladies really loved math and I really love math, its my favorite subject since 3rd grade. The most interesting part was the ladies stories and how they made it to Microsoft. Keep up the good work it was right on point. I want to do many other ignite events. * I do appreciate that you all came out to share your stories with us. I am happy that you shared it with us. * The women were very polite and gave us a lot of detail. They all basically put their self through school. They all have very interesting jobs that I might like to do. The make a lot of money doing what they do. They did not plan doing what they do at first. I look forward to more events. * When Pam talked about how she worked and when you feel like you want to do something you should stick with it and never give up. Go with what you want to do the most and when she did the thing with all the bugs, that was pretty fun. When Pam was talking about the bugs on the computer and when she had said something about when you want to do something you should go with it. I look forward to learning about more choices in these fields too. * Well, they are all had a lot of helpful information. I would like to consider technology careers. I really liked what Sharon Carroll talked about being a technical writer, because I like writing. I want meetings to be longer. I think the IGNITE events are perfect. * I like that the ladies that work at Microsoft came to talk about their careers and how they told us the schooling they had to go through to get the jobs they have today. I liked hearing about the woman who makes video games, I would like to talk more. * It was great to learn about all the women's careers. It gave me a better insight for what my passion is as a career. I loved everything. I look forward to field trips and more IGNITE events. * The best part was telling us about how they got to where they are today and telling us what they do. Hearing about the software tester and what they do and what that is about because I didn't know what it was. I think everything was interesting. It was perfect. I love all IGNITE events. * I loved the speakers. It is fun to learn about testing computers and breaking things. Y'all are great. I want to keep in touch when I go to Atlanta. As you all can see, the event had quite an effect on all the girls. They really love learning about these careers and want to learn more. Thank you all for making this all possible. We could not be successful without each and everyone of you, who make IGNITE what it is today. Cathi